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Chapter 655: Chapter 645: Peaceful Phone Call (Extra Chapter 9 for Giving Snow to Haidilao)
Shen Yunfang took the several sheets of paper in her hand and began to read them carefully.
The papers only recorded the names of the units, their locations, as well as the leaders whom Director Bai had contacted and the phone numbers of their purchasing departments.
"Alright, this is all I need, the leaders have already been a great help, and I can handle the rest on my own," Shen Yunfang said as she carefully folded the papers and tucked them into her pocket.
"Well, the rest is up to you," Director Bai was very satisfied with Yunfang’s attitude.
"Director Bai, I have another matter I need to trouble you with today," Yunfang said with a smile on her face.
"Oh? You’re not about to ask for another letter of introduction to purchase something else, are you?" Director Bai looked at her expression and felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity—he had seen her smile like this a few months ago.
"Haha, you guessed it, and that’s perfect," Yunfang didn’t feel embarrassed, but openly admitted it instead.
Director Bai shook his head with a chuckle, "You, oh you, I don’t know if your farm is growing gold or silver for you to spend so freely. Even if you have the money, you should spend it wisely. Besides, the money is borrowed from the bank, and it has to be paid back eventually."
He really didn’t understand what Xiaoshen was thinking. Not only had she built a beautiful dormitory building on the farm but also, a while ago, she had asked him for a letter of introduction to order many boilers from a machinery factory. As far as he knew, just those boilers cost nearly thirty thousand yuan, and here she was again, after just a few quiet days, asking for another letter of introduction to buy more things.
"I know, but the farm has just started, and we haven’t gotten on the right track yet. We lack everything, what can I do if I don’t buy them?" Yunfang complained with a pained expression, showing her own helplessness.
"Alright, then tell me, what are you looking to buy this time?" Director Bai asked impatiently.
"I need two letters of introduction. I want to buy a few vehicles in A Province so I can transport vegetables during the winter. If we hire transport, the cost will be almost as much as buying the vehicles. Also, I want to look for a good oil press; the soybeans in the fields are almost ready to be harvested, and I plan to press some soybean oil to sell," Yunfang explained clearly her intended purchases and their purposes. She understood this leader wouldn’t provide her with a letter of introduction unless she explained everything clearly.
After hearing her explanation, Director Bai pondered for a moment before saying, "If you have made up your mind, then I will write you the letters of introduction, but, as I have said before, everything is just getting started, so you still need to proceed with caution."
Upon hearing his agreement to provide the letters, Yunfang smiled, as nothing else mattered to her at that moment.
"There’s one more thing I need help with, Director Bai," she remembered another important matter.
"You’re not finished yet? Go ahead, what else?"
"Our farm is too remote, and I wouldn’t know if there’s any issue on your end. I was wondering if it would be possible to get a telephone installed at our farm?" Yunfang had long wanted to install a telephone, but opportunities were scarce. At that time, individuals rarely had phones; one had to be a leader and of a certain rank for an official installation.
"Hmm, that’s not a difficult request. Later, I’ll give them a call for you, and you can just wait for the installation. It’ll be done in the next couple of days," Director Bai agreed without hesitation, as he felt it was not a significant issue.
So, that day, Yunfang happily returned with a few sheets of paper and waited at the farm for the workers to come and install the telephone.
By mid-October, the weather gradually cooled, and it was time to start harvesting the soybeans and corn in the fields. Taking advantage of the good weather, Zhang Chunwang organized the workforce to begin the harvest.
With the foreign-made combine harvesters they had purchased, the task was not too strenuous for the group of over thirty people to harvest more than two hundred acres.
While Yunfang was watching everyone bustle about with the autumn harvest in the fields, someone ran over to inform her that people had come to install the telephone at the farm.
Yunfang quickly instructed Chunwang to keep an eye on things here and she ran over to receive them.
Yunfang hadn’t expected that among the workers who came there would be a junior leader, which was enough to prove how seriously the city leadership took her farm. She cut up some watermelon to treat the workers, who showed great enthusiasm. In less than a morning, the telephone installation at the farm was complete. Yunfang even made a test call to Director Bai, to report on the progress and to express her gratitude. Of course, she also took the chance to inquire whether it was possible to get a telephone installed at her own place, now that the workers were already there?
However, Yunfang lived in the military housing complex, and getting a phone installed there wasn’t something Director Bai could decide. After getting a positive response from Director Bai, she placed a call to her husband and then led the workers back to her home to install the telephone.
Installing a telephone in the military compound was much easier than at the farm; there was no need to run new lines, as the compound already had telephone wires. Thus, barely more than an hour after the workers arrived, the telephone was installed. However, Yunfang needed to personally make the payment before it could be activated.
Yunfang was quite satisfied with the outcome. As she was seeing off the workers downstairs, a few curious military wives gathered around.
"Xiaoshen, what’s going on? Are these your relatives?" Wang Cuihua had just been sunbathing with her child outside and saw the workers following Yunfang upstairs. Now that they were leaving, she dared to come over and gossip.
Yunfang suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. Did this woman have eyes on her butt? It was clear these people were workers, carrying and wearing tools, not her relatives.
"No," was all Yunfang said.
"Then who are they, and why did they come to your place?" A woman she didn’t recognize asked.
Since moving to the area, Yunfang had only become acquainted with a few military wives who had visited her home. Busy with work and running around daily, if not cooking for her husband and children at home, she didn’t interact much with the other wives.
"Just some workers, I hired them to do a job for me at home," Yunfang patiently replied.
"What kind of job that you needed to hire people?"
"I saw them touching the phone line earlier; don’t tell me you’re getting a telephone installed in your house?" an observant military wife guessed with some uncertainty.
Yunfang smiled and said, "Yes, we’re having a telephone installed." This was something she expected to spread around the compound soon, so there was no point in hiding it now.
All the wives surrounding her gasped, one even blurted out, "Your family really is wealthy."
Having a telephone indeed signified wealth, as the cost of one telephone line could buy several tractors.
Wang Cuihua and the others looked at Yunfang with a mix of disbelief and envy.
"Not really, it’s for work," Yunfang said, choosing not to discuss the price. She preferred to keep a low profile and wasn’t one to show off her wealth.
"Oh my, does that mean we can come over to your place and use your phone to call our hometowns? That would be so convenient," a military wife exclaimed, slapping her thigh.
"Yeah, exactly, I hadn’t even thought of that."
"Xiaoshen, I was just planning to call my mom back home for something. Can I use your phone?" one of them quickly tried to take advantage of the situation.
Yunfang smiled and replied generously, "Sure, but I don’t have any change on me. If you’re going to come over to make calls, you’ll need to bring your own change."
Everyone’s faces turned sour as they all understood what she meant—she would be charging for the calls.
Overnight, two rumors spread through the military compound: one about the wealth of Colonel Li’s family, and the other that Colonel Li’s wife was all about money.
